Byzantine Art and Diplomacy in an Age of Declineassets.cambridge.org/97811070/33306/frontmatter/9781107033306... · Byzantine Art and Diplomacy in an Age of Decline The Late Byzantine

Byzantine Art and Diplomacy in an Age of Decline

The Late Byzantine period (12611453) is marked by a paradoxicaldiscrepancy between economic weakness and cultural strength. Theapparent enigma can be resolved by recognizing that later Byzan-tine diplomatic strategies, despite or because of diminishing politicaladvantage, relied on an increasingly desirable cultural and artistic her-itage. This book reassesses the role of the visual arts in this era byexamining the imperial image and the gift as reconceived in the finaltwo centuries of the Byzantine Empire. In particular, it traces a series ofluxury objects created specifically for diplomatic exchange with suchcourts as Genoa, Paris, and Moscow alongside key examples of imperialimagery and ritual. By questioning how political decline reconfiguredthe visual culture of empire, Professor Hilsdale offers a more nuancedand dynamic account of medieval cultural exchange that considers thetemporal dimensions of power and the changing fates of empires.

cecily j. hilsdale is Associate Professor in the Department ofArt History and Communication Studies at McGill University. Herresearch concerns cultural exchange in the medieval Mediterranean,in particular the circulation of Byzantine luxury objects as diplomaticgifts, as well as the related dissemination of eastern styles, techniques,iconographies, and ideologies of imperium.

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Byzantine Art and Diplomacyin an Age of Decline

cecily j. hilsdale




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C Cecily J. Hilsdale 2014

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Hilsdale, Cecily J., 1971

Byzantine art and diplomacy in an age of decline / Cecily J. Hilsdale.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-107-03330-6 (hardback)

1. Byzantine Empire History Palaeologi dynasty, 12591448. 2. Byzantine Empire Foreign

relations Europe. 3. Europe Foreign relations Byzantine Empire. 4. Arts and diplomacy

Byzantine Empire. 5. Diplomatic gifts Byzantine Empire. I. Title.

DF632.H55 2014

709.4950902 dc23 2013030432

ISBN 978-1-107-03330-6 Hardback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of

URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication,

and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,

accurate or appropriate.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

This book was published with the generous assistance of a Book Subvention Award from the

Medieval Academy of America.




Contents

List of illustrations [page vii]List of color plates [xv]Acknowledgements [xvii]List of abbreviations [xx]

Introduction: the imperial image as gift [1]Pharmakon and apotropaion [3]

Historicizing imperial giving [13]

The gift and hindsight [20]

Organization [22]

part i adventus: the emperor and the city

Introduction to Part I [27]

1 The imperial image and the end of exile [31]The end of exile: the Treaty of Nymphaion [34]

Verbal and visual tribute [42]

Weaving allegiances: hagiographic and imperial largesse [52]

The emperor, archangel, and saint at the doors of Genoas church [65]

Visualizing largesse through synkrisis [75]

Conclusion: gifts and rivalry [82]

2 Imperial thanksgiving: the commemoration of the Byzantinerestoration of Constantinople [88]Constantinople as new Zion [90]

A New Constantine for the capital of a new empire [99]

Brazen thanksgiving [109]

Imperial prestation and proskynesis [122]

Conclusion: monumental afterlives and memories [146]

3 Imperial instrumentality: the serially struck Palaiologan

image [152]The emperor, the angel, and Christ [160]

The Virgin of the Walls [169]

Divinely destined Palaiologan rule [180]

Conclusion: sins of the Palaiologan father and the end of gold [185]

v




vi Contents

part ii atoms of epicurus: the imperial image as

gift in an age of decline

Introduction to Part II [199]

4 Rhetoric as diplomacy: imperial word, image, and

presence [214]Platos coins [214]

Aristophaness Blind Fortune [218]

Son of Laertes [221]

Hope of the Hopeless: material gifts and the immaterial [227]

Imperial generosity and the Corpus Dionysiacum [236]

Imperial mediation and the hierarchy of procession and return [248]

Conclusion: rhetoric as diplomacy [263]

5 Wearing allegiances and the construction of a visual

oikoumene [268]Imperial ritual and evergetism [271]

On marriage: Palaiologan dynastic politics [279]

Wearing allegiances: a liturgical vestment with a political message [288]

Vested privilege [295]

Entangled agendas: ecclesiastical and dynastic intermediaries [316]

Constantinople as sacro-imperial source [325]

Conclusion: empire, evidence, and oikoumene [327]

Conclusion: the ends of empire [333]

Bibliography [344]Index [388]

The color plates can be found between pages 202 and 203.




Illustrations

0.1 Hagia Sophia, Constantinople, general view of the mosaics on the

east wall of the south gallery (photo: author) [page 5]

0.2 Constantine IX Monomachos and Zoe with Christ, south gallery

mosaics, Hagia Sophia, Constantinople, eleventh century (photo:

author) [6]

0.3 John II Komnenos and Eirene with the Virgin and Child, south

gallery mosaics, Hagia Sophia, Constantinople, twelfth century

(photo: author) [6]

0.4ab Chrysobull of Andronikos II Palaiologos, 1301, Byzantine and

Christian Museum, Athens (BXM 00534) (photo: Byzantine and

Christian Museum, Athens) [8]

0.5 Portrait of Theodore Komnenos Doukas Synadenos and Wife,

Lincoln College Typikon, Bodleian Library, MS. Lincoln College

gr. 35, fol. 8r, c. 132742 (photo: Bodleian Library, C LincolnCollege, Oxford) [12]

0.6 Detail of the fresco cycle of the Akathistos Hymn from the

Katholikon of the Holy Trinity in Cozia, Valachia (photo: after

Spatharakis, Akathistos, fig. 146, by permission of the

author) [13]

1.1 Embroidered silk of St Lawrence, associated saints, and Michael

VIII Palaiologos, 1261, Genoa, Civiche Collezioni, Museo di

SantAgostino (photo: author) [32]

1.2 Embroidered silk of despot and sebastokrator Constantine with

angels, c. 1210, Treasury of San Marco, Venice (photo:

author) [47]

1.3 Detail of the upper register of the Byzantine silk in Genoa (Figure

1.1), scene 5, Byzantine emperor with the archangel and St

Lawrence (photo: author) [53]


1.1), scene 6, Sixtus commanding Lawrence to distribute church

vessels (photo: author) [55]

1.5 Detail of the upper register of the Byzantine silk in Genoa

(Figure 1.1), scene 7, Lawrence selling church vessels, and vii




viii List of illustrations

scene 8, Lawrence distributing money to the needy (photo:

author) [56]


1.1), continuation of scene 8, scene 9, Sixtus before Decius, and

scene 10, beheading of Sixtus (photo: author) [57]


1.1), scene 1, Lawrence before Decius, and detail of scene 2,

Lawrence presenting to Decius the blind and the lame (photo:

author) [57]


1.1), scene 3, Lawrence being beaten, scene 4, Lawrence

imprisoned, and scene 5, Byzantine emperor with the archangel

and St Lawrence (photo: author) [58]

1.9 Detail of the lower register of the Byzantine silk in Genoa (Figure

1.1), scene 11, Lawrence caring for the needy, and scene 12,

Lawrence converting Tiburtius Callinicus (photo:

author) [59]


1.1), scene 13, Lawrence baptizing Tiburtius Callinicus, and scene

14, Martyrdom of Lawrence (photo: author) [60]


1.1), scene 15, burial of Lawrence, scene 16, Hippolytus before

Decius, and scene 17, Hippolytus lacerated by hooks, and scene

18, Hippolytus dragged by horses (photo: author) [60]


1.1), scene 19, burial of Hippolytus, and scene 20, burial of Sixtus

(photo: author) [61]

1.13 Communion of the Apostles, the first of a pair of aeres, 118595,

Cathedral Treasury, Halberstadt, Germany (photo: Landesamt fur

Denkmalpflege und Archaologie Sachsen-Anhalt, Juraj

Liptak) [62]

1.14 Communion of the Apostles, the second of a pair of aeres,

118595, Cathedral Treasury, Halberstadt, Germany (photo:

Landesamt fur Denkmalpflege und Archaologie Sachsen-Anhalt,

Juraj Liptak) [62]

1.15 Anastasis epigonation, fourteenth century, Byzantine and

Christian Museum, Athens (T. 714) (photo: Bruce WhiteC Metropolitan Museum of Art) [63]

1.16 Vladislav led to Christ by the Virgin, Church of the Ascension,

Mileseva, Serbia, c. 1235 (photo: Erich Lessing/Art Resource,

New York) [69]




List of illustrations ix

1.17ab Christ with John Chrysostom and the Virgin with John, the Holy

Monastery of Iveron, Mount Athos, cod. 5, fol. 456v457r,

thirteenth century (photo: Weitzmann Archive, Department of

Art and Archaeology, Princeton University) [70]

1.18 Enrollment for Taxation, outer narthex mosaics, Chora

Monastery (Kariye Camii), c. 131621, Constantinople (photo:C Dumbarton Oaks, Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives,

Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC) [71]

1.19 Marriage belt with bridal couple and Christ, sixthseventh

century, Dumbarton Oaks (photo: C Dumbarton Oaks,Byzantine Collection, Washington DC) [73]

2.1 Deesis, mosaic in the south gallery, Hagia Sophia,

Constantinople, thirteenth century (photo: author) [97]

2.2 Lead seal of Michael VIII Palaiologos, Seal of the Sekreton,

12612 (NM 2032/1998), Numismatic Museum, Athens (photo:

Numismatic Museum, Athens) [100]

2.3a Kastoria, Panagia Mavriotissa, external view (photo: C SvetlanaTomekovic, Index of Christian Art, Princeton University/The

Svetlana Tomekovic Database of Byzantine Art) [102]

2.3b Kastoria, Panagia Mavriotissa, line drawing (redrawn after

Papamastorakis, : , , 15(198990), 2) [103]

2.4a Church of the Virgin, Apollonia (Albania), thirteenth century

(photo: Robert Ousterhout) [104]

2.4b Church of the Virgin, Apollonia (Albania), thirteenth century line

drawing (redrawn after Heide and Helmut Buschhausen, Die

Marienkirche von Apollonia in Albanien: Byzantiner, Normannen

und Serben im Kampf um die Via Egnatia (Vienna: Verlag der

Osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1976), fig.

19) [104]

2.5 Constantinople, from Cristoforo Buondelmontis Liber insularum

archipelagi, Venice, Marciana Library, Lat. XIV, 45 (=4595), fol.123r [112]

2.6 Detail of Constantinople, from Cristoforo Buondelmonti, Liber

insularum archipelagi, Venice, Marciana Library, Lat. XIV, 45

(=4595), fol. 123r [113]2.7 Constantinople, from Cristoforo Buondelmonti, Liber insularum

archipelagi, private collection (photo: Bridgeman Art

Library) [114]




x List of illustrations

2.8 Detail of Constantinople, from Cristoforo Buondelmonti, Liber

insularum archipelagi, private collection (photo: Bridgeman Art

Library) [115]

2.9 Ivory Diptych (Barberini ivory), Louvre, Paris (photo:

Album/Art Resource, New York) [119]

2.10 Base of the Obelisk of Theodosius I, west face, Hippodrome,

Constantinople (photo: author) [120]

2.11 Apse mosaic, Church of San Vitale, Ravenna (photo:

author) [124]

2.12 Apse mosaic, Basilica Eufrasiana, Porec (photo: Ann Marie

Yasin) [125]

2.13 Psalter of Basil II, Venice, Marciana Library, Venice, Gr.17.fol.3

(photo: Erich Lessing/Art Resource, New York) [128]

2.14 Embroidery of Manuel and the Archangel, Palazzo Ducale,

Urbino (photo: author) [131]

2.15 Joshua and the Archangel, Vatopedi Octateuch, Ms. 602 fol. 350v,

Vatopedi Monastery, Mount Athos (photo: Department of Art

and Archaeology, Princeton University) [132]

2.16 Constantine and Justinian with the Virgin and Child, southwest

vestibule mosaic, Hagia Sophia, Constantinople (photo:

author) [136]

2.17 Byzantine Emperor in Proskynesis, inner narthex mosaic, Hagia

Sophia, Constantinople (photo: author) [137]

2.18 Theodore Metochites, Church of the Chora/Kariye Camii,

Constantinople (photo: C Dumbarton Oaks, Image Collectionsand Fieldwork Archives, Washington DC) [138]

2.19 Seal of the ekklesiekdikoi, Dumbarton Oaks (photo:C Dumbarton Oaks, Byzantine Collection, Washington

DC) [142]

3.1ab Gold hyperpyron of Michael VIII Palaiologos, Magnesia: Virgin

enthroned/Michael presented to Christ by St Michael (DOC V/2,

no. 1), Dumbarton Oaks BZC.1969.54.D2012 (photo:C Dumbarton Oaks, Byzantine Collection, Washington

DC) [155]

3.2ab Gold hyperpyron of Michael VIII Palaiologos, Constantinople:

Virgin and the walls/Michael presented to Christ by St Michael

(DOC V/2, no. 2), Dumbarton Oaks BZC.1.1957.4.101.D2012

(photo: C Dumbarton Oaks, Byzantine Collection, WashingtonDC) [156]






List of illustrations xi

(DOC V/2, no. 11), Dumbarton Oaks BZC.1948.17.3590.D2012




(DOC V/2, no. 18), Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler

Museum, bequest of Thomas Whittemore, 1951.31.4.1906

(Dumbarton Oaks, Whittemore Loan WH 760.D2012) (photo:C Dumbarton Oaks, Byzantine Collection, Washington

DC) [157]

3.5ab Silver trachy of Michael VIII Palaiologos, Constantinople, Class

IV: Virgin seated/Michael presented to Christ by St Michael

(DOC V/2, no. 29), Dumbarton Oaks BZC.1948.17.3594.D2012


3.6 Silver trachea of Michael VIII Palaiologos, Constantinople, Class

VIII: St George/two emperors crowned by St Michael (DOC V/2,

no. 36), Dumbarton Oaks BZC.2009.010.D2012 (photo:C Dumbarton Oaks, Byzantine Collection, Washington

DC) [163]

3.7 Copper trachea of Michael VIII Palaiologos, Constantinople.

Class VII: bust of St Demetrios/Emperor Michael VIII with St

Michael above (DOC V/2, no. 70), Dumbarton Oaks

BZC.1960.88.4328.D2012 (photo: C Dumbarton Oaks,Byzantine Collection, Washington DC) [164]

3.8ab Copper trachea of Michael VIII Palaiologos, Constantinople,

Class IV: Virgin seated/emperor embraced by St Michael (DOC

V/2, no. 62), Dumbarton Oaks BZC.1977.19.D2012 (photo:C Dumbarton Oaks, Byzantine Collection, Washington

DC) [164]

3.9 View of Constantinople, Vatican Library, Vat. Gr. 1851, fol. 2r

(photo: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana) [172]

3.10 View of Constantinople, Vatican Library, Vat. Gr. 1851, fol. 5v

(photo: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana) [173]

3.11 Nomisma of Leo VI, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler

Museum, bequest of Thomas Whittemore, 1951. 31.4.1256

(Dumbarton Oaks, Whittemore Loan WH 347.D2012) (photo:C Dumbarton Oaks, Byzantine Collection, Washington

DC) [174]

3.12 The Martyrdom of Saint Euphemia (scene 12), from the Church

of Saint Euphemia, Constantinople (photo: C Dumbarton Oaks,




xii List of illustrations

Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives, Washington

DC) [176]

3.13 Electrum trachy (trikephalon), coronation issue, of Theodore

Komnenos Doukas, Thessalonike, Virgin orans/St Demetrios

presenting city model to the emperor, Dumbarton Oaks


3.14 (a) Copper trachea of Michael VIII Palaiologos, Constantinople,

Class XIV: bust of Christ/emperor seated with labrum and city

model (DOC V/2, no. 85), Dumbarton Oaks

BZC.1974.5.22.D2012 (photo: C Dumbarton Oaks, ByzantineCollection, Washington DC). (b) Copper trachea of Michael VIII

Palaiologos, Constantinople, Class XIV: redrawn after S. Bendall

and P. Donald, The Billon Trachea of Michael VIII Palaeologos,

12581282 (London: A. H. Baldwin, 1974), 12 (cat. no.

C.14) [183]

3.15ab Gold hyperpyron of Andronikos II Palaiologos, Constantinople,

Class I: Virgin and the walls/Christ blessing the crouching

emperor (DOC V/2, no. 228), Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M.

Sackler Museum, bequest of Thomas Whittemore, 1951.

31.4.1913 (Dumbarton Oaks, Whittemore Loan WH 764.D2012)


3.16ab Gold hyperpyron of Andronikos II Palaiologos, Constantinople,

Class I: Virgin and the walls/Christ blessing the crouching

emperor (DOC V/2, no. 234), Dumbarton Oaks


3.17ab Gold hyperpyron of Andronikos II Palaiologos and Michael IX

Palaiologos, Constantinople, Class II: Virgin and the walls/Christ

with Andronikos II on l. and Michael IX on r. (DOC V/2, no.

236), Dumbarton Oaks BZC.1960.88.5296.D2012 (photo:C Dumbarton Oaks, Byzantine Collection, Washington

DC) [194]

3.18ab Gold hyperpyron of John V Palaiologos, Constantinople,

Andronikos III kneeling before Christ/Anna and John (DOC V/2,

no. 942), Dumbarton Oaks BZC.1960.88.4636.D2012 (photo:C Dumbarton Oaks, Byzantine Collection, Washington

DC) [196]




List of illustrations xiii

3.19ab Gold hyperpyron of John V Palaiologos and John VI

Kantakouzenos, Constantinople, Virgin and the walls/Christ

blessing John V and John VI (DOC V/2, no. 1193), Dumbarton

Oaks BZC.1956.23.5040.D2012 (photo: C Dumbarton Oaks,Byzantine Collection, Washington DC) [197]

4.0ab Pyxis with imperial families and ceremonial scenes (Palaiologan

pyxis), Dumbarton Oaks (photo: C Dumbarton Oaks, ByzantineCollection, Washington DC) [211]

4.1 Freising icon, Freising Cathedral (photo: Erich Lessing/Art

Resource, NY) [232]

4.2 St Dionysios in the Synaxarion of Basil II, Vatican Library, Vat. Gr.

1613, fol. 82 (photo: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana) [243]

4.3 Author portrait, works of Dionysios the Areopagite, Louvre,

Paris, MR 416 fol. 1r (photo: C RMN-Grand Palais/Art Resource,New York) [244]

4.4 Palaiologan family portrait, works of Dionysios the Areopagite,

Louvre, Paris, MR 416 fol. 2r (photo: C RMN-Grand Palais/ArtResource, New York) [245]

4.5 Portrait of Manuel II Palaiologos from his funeral oration for his

brother, Paris BN Suppl. Gr. 309, fol. 6r (photo: Bibliotheque

nationale de France) [253]

4.6 Portrait of Nikephoros III/Michael VII and Maria of Alania, Paris

BN Coislin 79, fol.1 (2bis)v (photo: Bibliotheque nationale de

France) [255]

4.7 Portrait of John II Komnenos and Alexios, Vatican Library, Vat.

Urb. Gr.2, fol. 10v (photo: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana) [256]

5.1 Icon with Saints Peter and Paul (above), and Helena of Anjou

surrounded by her sons Dragutin and Milutin (below), Biblioteca

Apostolica Vaticana, Vatican Museums (photo: Scala/Art

Resource, New York) [287]

5.2 Front of the major sakkos of Metropolitan Photios, 141417,

Kremlin Museum, Moscow (TK-4) (photo: C Blagov V. V., StateHistorical and Cultural Museum-Preserve The Moscow

Kremlin) [289]

5.3 Back of the major sakkos of Metropolitan Photios, 141417,

Kremlin Museum, Moscow (TK-4) (photo C Blagov V. V., StateHistorical and Cultural Museum-Preserve The Moscow

Kremlin) [290]

5.4 Detail of John Palaiologos, hem of the front of the major sakkos

of Metropolitan Photios, 141417, Kremlin Museum, Moscow




xiv List of illustrations

(TK-4) (photo C Blagov V. V., State Historical and CulturalMuseum-Preserve The Moscow Kremlin) [294]

5.5 Detail of the hem of the front of the major sakkos of

Metropolitan Photios, 141417, Kremlin Museum, Moscow

(TK-4) (photo: C Blagov V. V., State Historical and CulturalMuseum-Preserve The Moscow Kremlin) [296]

5.6 Front of the Royal Crown of Hungary, eleventh century,

Hungarian Parliament Building, Budapest (photo: Hungarian

Pictures/Karoly Szelenyi) [299]

5.7 Back of the Royal Crown of Hungary, eleventh century,

Hungarian Parliament Building, Budapest (photo: Hungarian

Pictures/Karoly Szelenyi) [300]

5.8 St Dionysios, detail of the upper-left corner of the back of the

major sakkos of Metropolitan Photios, 141417, Kremlin

Museum, Moscow (TK-4) (photo: C Blagov V. V., State Historicaland Cultural Museum-Preserve The Moscow Kremlin) [306]

5.9 Sylvester, detail of the upper-right corner of the back of the

major sakkos of Metropolitan Photios, 141417, Kremlin


5.10 Photios, detail of the lower-left corner of the front of the major

sakkos of Metropolitan Photios, 141417, Kremlin Museum,

Moscow (TK-4) (photo: C Blagov V. V., State Historical andCultural Museum-Preserve The Moscow Kremlin) [309]

5.11 Front of the minor sakkos of Metropolitan Photios, Kremlin





Color plates

Plate 1 (=1.1) Embroidered silk of St Lawrence, associated saints, andMichael VIII Palaiologos, 1261, Genoa, Civiche Collezioni, Museo di

SantAgostino (photo: author)

Plate 2 (=1.3) Detail of the upper register of the Byzantine silk in Genoa(Figure 1.1), scene 5, Byzantine emperor with the archangel and St

Lawrence (photo: author)

Plate 3 (=2.7) Constantinople, from Cristoforo Buondelmonti, Liberinsularum archipelagi, private collection (photo: Bridgeman Art

Library)

Plate 4ab (=3.1ab) Gold hyperpyron of Michael VIII Palaiologos,Magnesia, Class II: Virgin enthroned/Michael presented to Christ by

St Michael (DOC V/2, no. 1), Dumbarton Oaks BZC.1969.54.D2012

(photo: C Dumbarton Oaks, Byzantine Collection, WashingtonDC)

Plate 5ab (=3.4ab) Gold hyperpyron of Michael VIII Palaiologos,Constantinople, Class III: Virgin and the walls/Michael presented to

Christ by St Michael (DOC V/2, no. 18), Harvard Art

Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, bequest of Thomas

Whittemore, 1951.31.4.1906 (Dumbarton Oaks, Whittemore Loan

WH 760.D2012) (photo: C Dumbarton Oaks, Byzantine Collection,Washington DC)

Plate 6ab (=3.15ab) Gold hyperpyron of Andronikos II Palaiologos,Constantinople, Class I: Virgin and the walls/Christ blessing the

crouching emperor (DOC V/2, no. 228), Harvard Art

Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, bequest of Thomas

Whittemore, 1951. 31.4.1913 (Dumbarton Oaks, Whittemore Loan

WH 764.D2012) (photo: C Dumbarton Oaks, Byzantine Collection,Washington DC)

Plate 7 (=4.3) Author portrait, works of Dionysios the Areopagite,Louvre, Paris, MR 416 fol. 1r (photo: C RMN-Grand Palais/ArtResource, New York)

xv




xvi Color plates

Plate 8 (=4.4) Palaiologan family portrait, works of Dionysios theAreopagite, Louvre, Paris, MR 416 fol. 2r (photo: C RMN-GrandPalais/Art Resource, New York)

Plate 9 (=5.2) Front of the major sakkos of Metropolitan Photios,141417, Kremlin Museum, Moscow (TK-4) (photo: C Blagov V. V.,State Historical and Cultural Museum-Preserve The Moscow

Kremlin)

Plate 10 (=5.5) Detail of the hem of the front of the major sakkos ofMetropolitan Photios, 141417, Kremlin Museum, Moscow (TK-4)

(photo: C Blagov V. V., State Historical and CulturalMuseum-Preserve The Moscow Kremlin)




Acknowledgements

This book offers a critical reappraisal of the visual arts in the final centuries

of the Byzantine Empire. As such, it owes a great debt to the Byzantium:

Faith and Power exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2004 and

the scholarly momentum that followed in its wake. It was this exhibition that

prompted me to reframe my longstanding interests in art and diplomacy

around the question of decline in the later Byzantine period. But the thinking

that led to this reframing and to the refining of this books central thematics

would not have been possible without the intellectual generosity, interest,

and engagement that developed through sustained dialogue with a range of

peers and mentors. Though it is not possible to list all of those who have

in some way influenced this project, special mention goes to Nell Andrew,

Jennifer Ball, Charles Barber, Elena Boeck, Sarah Brooks, Annemarie Weyl

Carr, Kristen Collins, Sally Cornelison, Anthony Cutler, Antony Eastmond,

Helen Evans, Hannah Feldman, Megan Holmes, Anthony Kaldellis, Hol-

ger Klein, Aden Kumler, Christopher MacEvitt, Ruth Macrides, Kathleen

Maxwell, Margaret Mullett, Bob Ousterhout, Maria Parani, Georgi Par-

pulov, Glenn Peers, Daniel Richter, Nancy Sevcenko, Alice-Mary Talbot,

Allie Terry-Fritsch, Thelma Thomas, Galina Tirnanic, Alicia Walker, War-

ren Woodfin, and last but certainly not least Ann Marie Yasin, who has been

a constant source of support and inspiration.

A number of individuals read portions of this study in advance of its

publication and offered generous comments. Chapter 3 benefited from

Jonathan Sheas numismatic expertise, and Chapter 5 was vastly improved

by Christian Raffenspergers extensive knowledge of the Russian material.

My longtime Chicago interlocutors Lucy Pick, Daisy Delogu, and Rebecca

Zorach read much of the book as a series of works in progress. Their critical

insights and encouragement were fundamental to the development of the

project. Portions of the final text were read by Anna Christidou and Tera Lee

Hedrick, who also compiled the index. Jonathan Sachs and the anonymous

readers for Cambridge University Press offered feedback on the complete

manuscript. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to all my readers for

their insightful comments; needless to say, the faults that remain in the final

text are entirely my own. xvii




xviii Acknowledgements

A number of institutions have supported this project and it is my plea-

sure to acknowledge and thank them formally here. My research has been

supported by a Standard Research Grant from the Social Sciences and

Humanities Research Council of Canada, a Franklin Research Grant from

the American Philosophical Society, a Junior Fellowship from Northwest-

ern Universitys Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities, an Individual

Research Grant from Northwestern University, a Summer Stipend from the

National Endowment for the Humanities, and most recently a book sub-

vention from the Medieval Academy of America. I would also like to thank

Dumbarton Oaks for allowing me to include as Chapter 1 a slightly revised

version of my article The Imperial Image at the End of Exile: The Byzantine

Embroidered Silk in Genoa and the Treaty of Nymphaion (1261), Dumb-

arton Oaks Papers, 64 (2010), 15199 ( C 2011, Dumbarton Oaks ResearchLibrary and Collection, Trustees for Harvard University). The final form of

the book has also benefited from wonderful research assistants at McGill

University, including Victoria Addonna, Jackson Davidow, and Alexandra

Kelebay, who provided much-needed help with image permissions. I would

also like to extend my gratitude to the many collections that have offered

permission to publish portions of their holdings and to thank the many indi-

viduals who have helped facilitate the process of acquiring those images,

especially Kimberly Bowes.

At Cambridge University Press, I would like to thank Michael Sharp for

his early interest in and continued commitment to this project, as well as

Elizabeth Hanlon for shepherding the manuscript so efficiently through to

publication.

While work on this book progressed through a range of academic posts

across the Midwest from Ann Arbor, Michigan, to Lawrence, Kansas, to

Northwestern University, it came to completion in Montreal at McGill Uni-

versity, where it benefited from the support and encouragement of my

colleagues in the Art History and Communication Studies Department. In

particular, I thank Angela Vanhaelen for her mentorship: she was instru-

mental in bringing me to McGill at precisely the right moment in my

personal life and my academic career.

Although the book took on its final form at McGill, its roots reach back

further than I would like to admit, to the myriad graduate seminars on

Byzantine art at the University of Chicago offered by Robert S. Nelson, my

doktorvater who, quite frankly, taught me most of what I know about Byzan-

tium. Although this book bears only a loose connection to the dissertation I

wrote under his direction, it was through his discipline, combined with the

intellectually stimulating environment of the University of Chicago, that my




Acknowledgements xix

practice was shaped and the foundation for my current trajectory was laid

out firmly. I would like to acknowledge my other mentors there as well: the

late Michael Camille for his gleeful excitement about all things medieval,

Walter Kaegi for his comprehensive introduction to Byzantine historiog-

raphy, Tom Cummins for his wicked wit and anthropological rigor, and,

especially, Linda Seidel for serving as an inspiration in so many ways and

for insisting that I never lose sight of the stakes of an argument. At the Uni-

versity of Chicago I also benefited from an intellectually generous cohort

of fellow Byzantinists, many of whom continue to serve as the most chal-

lenging and supportive of interlocutors. The late Angela Volan in particular

deserves special mention: although her brilliance was cut tragically short,

her memory lives on.

Byzantine texts are fond of expressing gratitude through insufficiency.

Seldom are words capable of capturing the magnitude of a sentiment; words

fall short where gratitude is beyond measure. For gifts that should never be

measured but hopefully reciprocated in some small way, I thank Jonathan

Sachs most of all, and I eagerly await the new chapter in our lives that has

begun with the little belette growing inside me as I type.




Abbreviations

ArtB Art Bulletin

ArtH Art History

BFP Byzantium: Faith and Power (12611557), ed. Helen C. Evans (New

York: Metropolitan Museum of Art; New Haven: Yale University Press,

2004).

BMFD Byzantine Monastic Foundation Documents: A Complete Translation of

the Surviving Founders Typika and Testaments, ed. John Thomas and

Angela Constantinides Hero (Washington DC: Dumbarton Oaks,

2000).

BMGS Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies

BSl Byzantinoslavica

ByzF Byzantinische Forschungen

BZ Byzantinische Zeitschrift

CA Cahiers archeologiques

DOC Catalogue of the Byzantine Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and

in the Whittemore Collection, edited by A. R. Bellinger, P. Grierson, and

M. F. Hendy (Washington DC: Dumbarton Oaks, 196699)

DOP Dumbarton Oaks Papers

Deltion tes Christianikes Archaiologikes Hetaireias Epeteris Hetaireias Byzaninon SpoudonEHB The Economic History of Byzantium from the Seventh through the

Fifteenth Century, edited by Angeliki E. Laiou (Washington, DC:

Dumbarton Oaks, 2002)

GRBS Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies

JOB Jahrbuch der Osterreichischen Byzantinistik

JOBG Jahrbuch der Osterreichischen Byzantinischen Gesellschaft

OCP Orientalia christiana periodica

ODB Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, edited by A. Kazhdan et al. (Oxford

University Press, 1991)

PG Patrologiae cursus completus, Series graeca, edited by J.-P. Migne (Paris:

Garnier, 185766)

PLP Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit, edited by E. Trapp et al.

(Vienna: Verlag der Osterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften,

197696)

xx




List of abbreviations xxi

REB Revue des etudes byzantines

REG Revue des etudes grecques

RESEE Revue des etudes sud-est europeennes

RN Revue numismatique




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